After nine years of disappointment, former Raiders coach Tom Flores moved one giant step closer Thursday night to possible induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The two-time Super Bowl-winning coach and 49ers general manager John Lynch, a former safety, were among the15 modern era finalists for induction in Canton, Ohio, the Hall of Fame announced.

“It’s exciting. But I don’t even know how to act,” Flores said by phone. “I’ve never been this far before. People say, ‘How do you feel?’ Well, I don’t know yet.”

Ex-Cal star tight end Tony Gonzalez, on the ballot for the first time, joined Flores and Lynch as finalists, as did former Raiders defensive lineman Richard Seymour.

Lynch, a hard-hitter from Stanford who was a nine-time Pro Bowl player and a Super Bowl champ with the Buccaneers, is making his sixth straight appearance as a finalist.

Gonzalez, cornerback Champ Bailey and safety Ed Reed are the only first-year eligible players to make the Hall’s final list. Flores’ road to inclusion among the final 15 has been quite a bit longer.

Flores was the first minority NFL coach to win a title and the first to win a Super Bowl title as a player, assistant and a head coach. He won nearly 70 percent of his games as the Raiders coach during the 1980-85 seasons, including a pair of Super Bowl wins. But those credentials didn’t get him very close to Canton. Before this year, Flores had never even made the ballot cut from 125 down to 25 semifinalists.

“I’m kind of a low-key guy anyways, but to go on from 25 to 15, I’m pretty excited about that,” Flores said. “We’ll see what happens. I can’t get too overwhelmed yet because we’re not there yet.”

The next hurdle for the 15 finalists will be on Feb. 2 in Atlanta, the day before Super Bowl LIII when the Hall of Fame’s Board of Selectors whittles the list down to a maximum of five enshrinees for 2019’s class.

Even for Flores, who has endured Hall of Fame disappointment for nearly 10 years, that’s going to be a long wait.

“It’s cocktail hour, so I’m about to have a cocktail with my wife,” Flores said from his Central Valley home. “Then I’ll digest what’s going on here because I still have a month to wait now.

“I’m gonna write a book about the longest damn month in the world,” he said, with a laugh.

There are nine other finalists who are also facing the long wait along with Flores, Lynch, Gonzalez, Bailey and Reed: Former 49ers receiver Isaac Bruce, safety Steve Atwater, tackle Tony Boselli, center Kevin Mawae, cornerback Ty Law, running back Edgerrin James, guard Steve Hutchinson, guard Alan Faneca, along with the late coach Don Coryell.

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The finalists also include three men previously named finalists from other committees — seniors committee candidate and former Chiefs safety Johnny Robinson, and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and Cowboys exec Gil Brandt from the contributors committee.